Abstract:
We study the mixing and the kinetic equilibration of projectile and target nucleons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions in the energy regime between 150 AMeV and 2 AGeV in a coupled-channel BUU (CBUU) approach. We find that equilibrium in the projectile-target degrees of freedom is in general not reached even for large systems at low energy where elastic nucleon-nucleon collisions dominate. Inelastic nucleon excitations are more favorable for equilibration and their relative abundance increases both with energy and mass. Experimentally, the projectile/target admixture can be determined by measuring the degree of isospin equilibration in isospin asymmetric nuclear collisions. For one of the most promising systems currently under investigation, 96 44Ru +96 40Zr, we investigate the influence of the equation of state and the inelastic in-medium cross section.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received: 23 September 1998 / Revised version: 3 December 1998
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hombach, A., Cassing, W. & Mosel, U. Isospin equilibration in relativistic heavy-ion collisions . EPJ A 5, 77–84 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s100500050259
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s100500050259